MORAN — Emotions ran high Wednesday as Moran City Council members and others in town pressed a local property owner to clean up his land.
Arlyn Briggs, who owns a former funeral home and bank in town, has found himself at odds with the City over their condition and that they are home to a slew of vehicles, boats and trailers filled with assorted riffraff. (The funeral home is currently occupied by tenants.)
Residents pointed to the unsightly messes along the town’s main thoroughfare when they brought forth a petition to the Council in August, filled with 165 signatures, as a formal complaint.
The petition followed a court summons that Police Chief Shane Smith had already issued to Briggs, pertaining to the condition of the properties.
Both complaints will be heard in Moran Municipal Court, with the first hearing set for next Wednesday.
Briggs attended Wednesday night’s Council meeting to share his thoughts, which did little to allay the concerns from either the Council or the dozen or so residents in the audience.
Briggs said he, like the rest of those at the meeting, wants to see a better Moran.
“I don’t want to argue,” Briggs said. “Hopefully, coming out of this meeting tonight, we will be able to learn from each other and work together.”
Council members were not impressed.
Councilwoman Nancy Houk noted Briggs had been at previous meetings, expressing similar hopes for a better community, and promising to bring in new businesses, such as a bank or a daycare.
“All you have done since then has junked this place up,” Houk said. “You could have bettered our town. Instead, you have made our town look like a rat hole.”
Councilman Warren Johnson said Briggs had earlier promised to remove the trailers from the city as soon as possible.
“I feel like you lied to us,” Johnson said.
Briggs, in response, said he no longer had a plot of land available out of town, and was leery of taking it elsewhere because of thieves.
“You’ve got to have some place to take them,” Briggs said, adding that he was unwilling to sell the items at a loss.
‘If anyone wants to buy them, come see me,” he said.
